


Let's watch the stars (together)

by psyduckappears



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cheesy, Deaf, Fallen Cas, Fluff, Friendship, Help, Human Castiel, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 23:58:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7484988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psyduckappears/pseuds/psyduckappears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an explosion in a fight with a demon, Dean loses his hearing. He can't go hunting anymore, his brother refuses to let him, but Sam doesn't want to stop hunting completely, too many people would die without their help. So it comes that Castiel, who had been living with them in the bunker since he had fallen from grace, offers to take care of Dean so he wouldn't have to be alone and without help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo this is an 8 chapter fic I once upon a time wrote on wattpad. I don't really know anymore if it's good but I guess I'll let you judge! On wattpad it's called 'Watch the stars with me', I only changed the title here because I dislike the old one.

Prologue

Dean, Sam and Castiel, who was still getting used to be human after he had lost his grace about a month ago, were in the large house of a big, rich family possessed by Demons. Everyone of the three men were fighting a bunch of demons in another part of the house, after they had already defeated a few. As far as Dean knew, there were about five left now. He himself was at this moment fighting the butler and the mother while Cas and Sam were nowhere to be seen, probably fighting in another room, or even on one of the upper floors. Hopefully, they were okay, but Dean didn't exactly have time to worry about that right now, because those two were somehow especially hard to get rid off.  
In a moment of distraction, the mother managed to smack him against the wall, sending a horrible ache down his back and then suddenly, there was a loud explosion right next to him and something hard hit Dean's head, causing him to black out immediately.   
****  
When Dean opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at the ceiling of a sterile, white hospital room, lying in a sterile, white hospital bed. Right next to that bed, Castiel was sitting with a worried look on his face and cuts and bruises spread all over his face and at the foot of the bed, Sam stood and talked to a doctor. At least it looked like talking. Dean couldn't hear a single sound.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dean was confused as he saw the doctors lips moving. Why in hell couldn't he hear his voice? The restless machine working next to him? The busy people walking through the halls of a hospital all day? He turned back to Cas, opened his mouth and said, “What happened? Why can't I hear anything?” Only couldn't he hear his own voice either. Maybe all this was just a dream. The last thing Dean remembered was getting smashed against a wall, then an explosion. Maybe, Dean told himself, Maybe I've got a concussion and I'm just dreaming all of this. That had to be it, right? What other explanation was there? Cas took a piece of paper and a pen from the night stand and wrote something down.   
'The explosion put major damage to your ears and body. They operated you a few times.'  
“And”, Dean demanded, scared of the answer Castiel would give him.   
'You won't be able to hear for a while', Cas wrote, then hesitated for a second before adding, 'Maybe forever.'  
The young hunter swallowed hardly and turned away so he didn't have to look at the sympathetic expression on his best friend's face. His ears. It just had to be his ears, right? That was just great. No more listening to music, no more talking, no more real watching TV and most importantly, no more hearing on their hunts. How in hell was Dean supposed to go hunting when he couldn't hear? Was that even possible? It would have to be.   
By now, Sam was done talking to the doctor and approached the bed Dean was laid in. He looked just as beaten up as Cas did, Dean noticed when he got a closer look at his younger brother.  
“You two alright?”, Dean asked, concerned about their health. It was so strange to him to talk without hearing himself. He must have sounded terrible. The both others nodded and looked at him concernedly.   
“Look guys, I know you're worried and all but I'll live. We can't change anything about it right now so can we just go back to the bunker?”, he really had to stop talking, Dean decided, this felt just so wrong. Sammy nodded, said something to Cas and left the room. 'He's going to fill in some papers so we can leave.'  
Dean nodded, lifting his aching body from the bed to change out of the hospital clothes into his own.   
****  
A certain fallen angel didn't like Dean's collected and calm attitude in this situation at all. By now, he knew the hunter well enough to know that when he acted like this, he was freaking out on the inside. On the other hand, he was aware that there was no way that Dean was going to talk about it, so he let it go. He wouldn't have known how to help him anyway.   
Back at the bunker, Cas and Sam discussed how to handle the situation.   
“He can't hunt like this. He'll get himself hurt when he can't hear”, Sam stated even though he knew his brother sure wasn't going to like that, “But we can't just stop hunting”, Sam added, “So many people would die when we just stopped helping them.”  
Castiel nodded, he knew Dean's little brother was right. “You know, I could just stay here with him”, Cas offered, “You could go hunting and we help you research from here. And while you're out, I will look out for him a bit. Make sure he won't go crazy alone here, do something stupid like running off to hunt by himself or so.”  
Sam's face lit up a little and he smiled at Cas gratefully. “You'd do that?”  
“Of course I would. You two have helped me so many times since we first met, I owe it to you. Also isn't that what friends are supposed to do? Help each other?”  
“I don't know how to thank you for this.”  
“Better worry about how we are going to tell Dean all this. He won't be happy”, Cas replied, looking at the older hunter on the couch a few meters away.   
“I'll just tell him. No point in making a big deal out of it, he'll do that himself. Just, leave us alone for a second, okay?” Castiel nodded understanding and went to his bedroom, waiting for the brother's conversation to end.  
****  
Dean couldn't quite believe Sam was even considering his plan. He couldn't honestly think Dean was just going to let him leave, without anyone to back him up, could he? What if he'd get in trouble and die again? No, Dean couldn't just sit in the bunker all day, hoping that his little brother would make it back home in one piece. It didn't matter if Cas would be there or not, Dean would be able to nothing but worrying about Sammy. And he didn't need a babysitter, either. He was deaf, not a little kid that couldn't take care of itself. There was no way in hell that Dean was going to stick with their plan, but he knew, Sam wouldn't accept a 'no' right now. So he played along for now.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i just noticed that ao3 makes it Chapter 3:Chapter 2  
> then I decided to ignore it

Chapter 2

Neither Cas nor Sam bought Dean's act of just agreeing to their plan. He didn't believe they knew so little about him, did he? But as it seemed, the hunter believed just that, so Cas decided to keep an extra eye on him in case he would try something. They just couldn't have Dean going after Sam when he left or even going hunting on himself, he'd only get himself killed. And this time, after he had lost his grace, he couldn't just go and raise his soul from hell or so. When he only kept the hunter busy enough he wouldn't even have the time to think of leaving. Of course, Dean probably wasn't going to be happy about this but at the moment, his safety was more important. He just couldn't die. When Dean would hear again, and Cas had faith that would happen eventually, he could go on hunts all he wanted but for now, Castiel would make sure his friend was safe.  
Sam left for a case only two days later, after they had researched in the bunker together, just as planned. 'So what do you want to do?', Cas wrote on another paper. Little notes were spread all over the bunker already. Dean shrugged listlessly, making the former angel sigh heavily. But he got an idea and took another paper, excitedly. 'How about learning sign language?'  
“No”, Dean said. As he couldn't hear himself any more, his talking always sounded a little funny to Cas but he never mentioned it. Instead, he nodded at Dean.  
'Come on, we'll do it together.' Knowing Cas wasn't going to let it go any time soon Dean sighed defeated and nodded, so they started to look and found a website with explanations. It wasn't too hard and somehow, it was fun. Sometimes, they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from laughing because the gesturing looked just so ridiculous to them.  
And just when Castiel started to believe Dean was enjoying their time, the hunter disappeared overnight.  
****  
In the middle of the night, Dean woke up from a terrifying nightmare. Usually these days, Dean enjoyed sleeping because once in a while there was sound in his dreams, or at least the memories of sound. Tonight though he had had a dream of his little brother, giving him the feeling something was horribly wrong. He looked at the clock, it was only half past two.  
Dean was aware that usually it wasn't him who had the visions but his dream had felt so real. He picked up his phone from the night stand to call Sam but then remembered that he wouldn't be able to hear if he answered. Waking up Cas wouldn't help him either, he would just try to calm him down and ignore his worries. So he had no choice. He had to go to Sam. His little brother had taken Bobby's old truck so the impala was still there.  
Could a deaf man drive? It seemed to Dean it was time to find out just that.  
****  
When Cas awoke in the morning, everything seemed normal first. He got up, made coffee, got dressed. It wasn't new that he was awake hours before Dean was. But soon, it was lunchtime and Cas had made them noodles so he decided to wake the hunter up. When Cas entered his room though, Dean's bed was empty. Castiel shouted his name while looking for him even though he knew that even if he was there, he couldn't hear him- Maybe the former angel was hoping that if he only shouted loud enough, his best friend would magically re-appear. But Dean didn't, he was gone. Nowhere to be seen and that frightened the fallen angel.  
Cas had tried hard to distract Dean from his worries the past week and he had really thought he had managed to calm the hunter down. As it seemed, he had been wrong. Now, all he could do was finding Dean and hoping he was alright. And then slap him in the face.  
The problem was that Dean had taken the impala, Sam the truck and even if Castiel had a car, he wouldn't have had any idea how to use it. And suddenly, it hit him in the face that he hadn't informed Sam about Dean's disappearance yet and he dialled the younger Winchester's cell phone number.  
“Cas-”  
“Sam, Dean is gone! I think he's gone to find you or something, I can't find him anywhere and the car is gone too-” Castiel's panic was interrupted by Sam.  
“Cas, it's alright. Dean is here, he had some weird dream or so and freaked out 'cause he thought I was in danger.”  
Cas couldn't believe what Sam had just told him. “Why didn't you tell me, you assbutt?! I was worried sick!”  
“Listen, I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier but when he arrived Dean was totally upset and when he calmed, I couldn't find my phone. Dean left his at the bunker. I only just found mine when you called.”  
Castiel sighed, slowly calming himself down. “Alright... just make sure he's okay and back here as soon as possible.”  
“Sure, okay. See you.”  
When Dean got back to the bunker, Cas would totally kick his ass.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On his drive back to the bunker- Dean really hadn't wanted to leave but Sam had pretty much forced him and Dean felt slightly bad for leaving without any warning – he turned the music as loud as possible, so he could feel the bass vibrating in his body. He ignored the fact he couldn't hear what song was on and sang a random Led Zeppelin song, most likely sounding terrible while doing so.  
When he got back to the bunker he'd have to apologize to Castiel. From all Sam had told him, Cas had been freaking out totally. The ride took him four hours, then he finally arrived at the bunker.  
Carefully, he opened the door and so that Cas would know it was him, he called, “Cas? It's me, I'm back.”  
Before Dean knew what was happening, Cas appeared seemingly out of nowhere and hugged him tightly, then pulled away and punched him in the face, so that Dean had to take a few steps backwards to regain his balance. Finally, Cas started gesturing wildly.  
'You stupid idiot! You can't just leave in the middle of the night, not leaving a single hint of where you're going! Are you crazy?' The hunter bit his lip and smiled sheepishly, apologizing. He knew he shouldn't have left like that but he also had his reasons.  
'Sorry... I had this dream and I thought Sam was in danger.'  
'Why didn't you tell me?'  
'You wouldn't have taken it seriously.'  
'I would have called him, at least! I wouldn't just have told you to 'piss off' or however you say it.'  
'Sorry...' Cas nodded and sighed a little. 'It's alright. You want some noodles?'

****  
Being relieved Dean was back safe, Castiel couldn't really stay mad at the deaf idiot. The following days, Cas tried all he could think of to distract him. He made Dean read, which didn't seem to be his cup of tea, they made some pie, which was actually fun, but almost burned down the bunker in the process and watching TV wasn't exactly thrilling either.  
Dean had lost something that was from such immense import to him, his hearing, and nothing Castiel tried to make his best friend feel better seemed to help. What could he do to make Dean feel better? He was running out of ideas though the fallen angel wanted to make Dean happy so badly.  
So why couldn't he think of a way?  
****  
Dean was bored. He knew Cas was trying to cheer him up but somehow, nothing seemed to help.  
All he really wanted right now was getting his hearing back. He could barely even remember the sound of Castiel's voice. He just missed talking to people, listening to music, hunting, everything he couldn't do without hearing.  
Some night, after Sam had left for a case once again, Cas told Dean to go and get his jacket. Curious for what his friend was up to, Dean did as he was told to and followed the fallen angel out of the bunker. Outside, he led the hunter to wide field and laid down in the somewhere in the middle of it, waving at Dean for him to join him. So he laid down right next to Castiel and when he looked at the sky above them, which was filled with a billion brilliant stars, he understood why Cas had brought him out here. It was overwhelming. Dean turned his head to Cas, who looked back at him and smiled brightly.  
“This is beautiful”, he mouthed, not daring to say it out loud in case it would sound as ridiculous as it felt.  
Dean and Cas stayed there for hours, staring at the stars, admiring their beauty in silence. Once in a while they would look at each other, never noticing when the other one did, to see the starlight reflect in the other one's eyes.  
And in this few hours, it didn't matter to Dean that he couldn't hear. Right now, he was happy.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The days after this night got better and better and the both men grow closer with every day passing by. The more time they spent together, the less Dean was thinking about his missing hearing ability and the less he worried about Sam.   
Once in a while, Cas could talk him into playing a game or they gave the baking another shot. Almost every night they lay in the fields outside until one of them fell asleep and the other one would carry them to bed, sometimes kiss them on the forehead and go to sleep themselves, never mentioning it the next morning. Some nights, Dean would take Castiel to some bar and they 'talked' and laughed together, drank together.   
Tonight was one of those night and Dean and Castiel were at a local bar, drinking some beer at their usual table. Dean was just telling the fallen angel about a case he had had a few years ago when some drunk, giant men came over to them, laughing at his gesturing.   
“What's wrong with you pussy? You stupid?”, one of them slurred, making Cas incredibly mad as he still had to get used to all those human emotions. How dared this smelly, drunk assbutt insulting his – insulting Dean?   
“Who do you think you are, talking to him like that! Besides, he can't hear you.”  
“Aw”, smelly-guy replied, “Look at the little faggot, Devin, how he's standing up for his little girlfriend.” Castiel punched the guy in the face with all his force. As Dean had no idea what was going on right now, he tried to held back Cas. But no chance, he pulled out of the hunter's grip and beat up the two giants until all three of them had bruises and bloody noses and eventually got kicked out of the bar all together.   
****  
The whole drive back, Dean went on and on about how stupid Cas had been acting, he was really mad. Castiel had explained to him what they had said and it had only made the hunter more furious.   
'Why do you even care what those people think? They are just a bunch of stupid drunk, jerks! And to you information, I can very well defend myself on my own. I'm a grown up man, not a damn kid!'  
'I don't give a damn shit about what this idiots think of me, Cas! So I don't really understand why you should? Stop acting as if it was any of your business because it isn't! I knew this would be a bad idea from the beginning, Sam shouldn't even have involved you in this in the first place.'  
With that, Dean disappeared in his room and went to bed, leaving Cas back with a hurt expression on his face that the hunter couldn't see. He just hated it so much to be treated like a little kid that couldn't take care of itself.   
****  
The following days at the bunker the mood was rather tensed. Castiel and Dean hadn't had any conversation in days and neither of them wanted to apologize, convinced they were right but deep inside knowing the other one was, too.   
Cas had tried to stand up for his friend, sure, but still, he had overreacted. He shouldn't have cared what they thought as much but all this human emotion was so new to him and them talking like that about Dean had him freaked somehow. And he hated all this silence, Castiel just couldn't stand being mad at Dean. And he couldn't stand Dean being mad at him, either.   
Sometimes, quite often even, Cas felt so close to go and apologize to Dean, just so they could get back to normal but then his anger came back to him reminding him what those jerks had said. And, even worse, what Dean had said when they had fought back that night. 'Sam shouldn't even have involved you in this in the first place.'   
Maybe Dean was right. Maybe he shouldn't be here with him, probably it would have been better for the both of them if he just left this place, if he went away, somewhere far away where they couldn't fight or just ignore each other. It ached the former angel so much, the ignoring, the not being able to spend time with Dean even though he was so close. Yes, maybe it would be better if he just left. But Castiel couldn't bring himself to leave his friend back here, all alone. If he wanted it or not, Dean needed some assistance with things and also, Cas was worried he'd go after Sam again or on a hunt alone, even. So he stayed and kept an eye on the hunter. At least he tried, but with Dean hiding in his room most of the day, it wasn't too easy.   
****  
These days, Dean wouldn't leave his bedroom other than for using the bathroom or once in a while get some food or a drink. Sometimes he sat on his bed doing absolutely nothing for hours or he got drunk out of boredom, without Cas noticing because even then, he would just sit there.   
Under his bed, he had found an old, dirty tennis ball and threw it on the wall across from his bed, just to catch it again. Throw, catch, throw catch, throw...He hated fighting with Castiel. He hated that his best friend was angry with him and he hated being angry with him. But why did he have to be so touchy? He was even worse than Dean himself was sometimes. Cas wasn't even gay, hell, that guy probably didn't even know what love was, so why would it get to him so much when they called him a faggot?  
It really wasn't like Cas to just beat the crap out of some random stranger just because of something they had said about them. Usually, the former angel wasn't that easily offended by this kind of things, especially since Dean hadn't even thought that Cas knew what 'faggot' meant.   
And trying to protect him? Dean? What would he want to protect him from anyways? From those idiots calling him stupid? He didn't need anyone to protect him, he was deaf, not a four years old.   
The worst thing about this whole fight was that in his loneliness, nobody was there to distract him from his lost hearing and it kept dragging him further and further down.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A week after Dean and Cas had started fighting, Sam came to the bunker, just having finished a hunt. The day of the explosion was almost one and a half months ago now and Dean couldn't even remember Sam's or Cas' voice anymore, couldn't remember what hearing felt like. No one voiced the thought out loud but by now, they had given up all hope for Dean to regain his hearing which didn't mean it wouldn't depressed the hunter immensely.   
The past few days, whenever Sam had called to check on them, Cas never said too much, never mentioned their fight, just said they were alright, Sam didn't have to worry. The younger Winchester had gotten suspicious, Cas could tell by the sound of his voice, but Sam certainly hadn't expected to come back to the bunker finding Castiel and his own brother ignoring each other completely.   
When Sam entered the bunker the day he arrived, he found Cas on the couch, asleep with a book laid in his lap and his trench coat all messed up from sleeping in it. Dean was in his room, throwing a ball against a wall.  
'What's wrong between you and Cas?', Dean's little brother wrote on a paper. He still hadn't found the time to learn ASL yet and Dean didn't blame him. He had work to do. But Dean didn't want to talk about the fight right now so he just shook his head and shrugged it off.  
'Doesn't matter.'  
****  
When Cas woke up later that afternoon, he found Sam preparing lunch in the kitchen.  
“Hey”, he said, his voice sounding a little scratchy. Castiel only really talked to Sam nowadays, as Dean couldn't hear him.  
“Hi Cas”, Sam replied, not looking up from the pot, “How are you?”  
“Fine, thank you. What about you?” Deciding to drop his act, Sam looked up from his pot to look at Cas.  
“What's up with you and Dean? Last time I was here you were all best friends and now you read some lame book on chess and Dean stares at the wall.” Cas swallowed hardly. When he was honest, he wasn't exactly keen on this conversation, worrying that b´maybe, Sam would say Dean had been right and Castiel should go. Then again, the Winchester's were a hopelessly stubborn family and Cas knew Sam well enough to know he wasn't going to just drop it. So the fallen angel told him everything, hoping for some helpful advice.  
In some way, Cas had been right and Sam agreed to his brother, only not in that certain point. “Cas, you know Dean for quite a long time now, don't you? You know he can take care of himself and that he hates it when people baby him too much. And anyways, you really shouldn't care what some jerks say about you or him, they don't know a thing.” The young man smiled at him reassuringly while saying that, not wanting to make Castiel feel even worse than he already did.   
“I know that, Sam. But I just got so angry at those assbutts for talking about Dean like that.”  
Sam smiled in a weird, secretive way when he nodded at Cas, a smile the fallen angel didn't quite understand.   
“I understand that, but you want to help Dean, don't you? And you do see that you overreacted, too. So why don't you just apologize and this will be over? I know he's sorry, too, but we both know he isn't going to apologize anytime soon.” Cas only nodded. He knew Sam was right.  
****  
As Castiel entered the door to Dean's room, the hunter was, just as always, sitting on his bed and threw that god-damned ball against the wall. Of course, he couldn't hear Cas coming so he flinched a little when Cas stepped in front of him.   
'What is it?', Dean gestured with a disinterested look on his face which somehow hurt the man in front of him.   
'I came to talk. And to apologize', Cas explained and bit his lip nervously.   
'What for?'  
'Look, I know you can take care of yourself. And I also know it shouldn't bother me what they say about me. But it isn't about them insulting me, but about them insulting you. You are deaf because you fight to save so many people and you are such a great person, you don't deserve people offending you for who they think you are. It may be that you don't care but I do, and at that moment, it just made me really mad. So, I'm sorry I overreacted, but not for standing up for you.'  
Dean looked up into Cas' apologetic blue eyes, surprised and smiled at the older man.   
'Thanks... I'm sorry too, for what I said to you the other week. I'm glad you're here.' Castiel nodded and gave Dean one of his rare smiles. 'Let's get out of here and spend some time with Sam while he's here.'  
****  
Soon enough, Sam had to leave again, another case waiting for him. Since their talk, Dean and his best friend had gone back to normal, returning to their old habits. On rainy nights, they went to bars and when the night was clear, they spent hours in the fields, staring at the stars for hours while the days grew hotter and hotter. They went swimming in some lake, a thing Dean hadn't done since he was a little kid and a thing Cas hadn't done all his life. Sometimes, they would just stay inside the bunker because it was a little cooler than outside in the blazing sun and often, they went out for ice cream or milkshakes.   
Today was one of the days they stayed in, grateful for the bunker's thick walls protecting them from the heat outside, which was taking some time to get inside. Still, it was hot inside, hot enough to have Cas taking off his infamous trench coat. The both of them were laying on the couch, watching some crappy TV show. Soon, Dean poked Cas' arm to get the fallen angel's attention.  
'Let's do something, this is damn boring.'  
'What do you wanna do?'  
The hunter thought about it for a second and then said something Cas' wouldn't have expected him saying. Maybe he had a heat stroke. 'Let's dance! I haven't been dancing in ages!' Castiel looked at his friend in a confused manner.  
'Are you alright? You hate dancing.'  
'What makes you think that?'  
'You said it. Like a thousand times', Cas stated.  
'I don't care what I said, I just really feel like dancing right now!' Dean didn't seem to find his acting weird at all, so Castiel played along.  
'With no music?', he asked. Dean nodded eagerly and as he seemed so excited about this, Cas got excited too, for some reason. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if Dean was drunk. The thing was, Cas wanted to dance with the hunter but he had no idea how to dance. 'Dean, I'd love to dance with you but I can't dance...', he stated a little sheepishly, 'Sorry.' Castiel hated to disappoint Dean when he seemed so keen on dancing but then again, the hunter really didn't seem disappointed at all.   
'No problem! I'll show you!' Now, the former angel wasn't so sure he wanted this at all. He would only make a fool out of himself, so he hesitated.  
'Come on, Cas, it'll be fun!', Dean begged, making Cas let out a sigh and nod, not quite able to reject Dean when he looked at him like that. 'Fine...'  
The hunter jumped off the couch and took Cas' hand to pull him up, making the older man blush already. Why was his face so hot right now?  
'Okay, what do I do?', Cas asked.  
'Just follow my feet', Dean smiled, then took Cas' left hand in his right and placed his other one on Castiel's shoulder. Nervously, Cas placed his leftover hand on Dean's waist, feeling his face grow even hotter. This was definitely what people called 'awkward'. Dean began moving his feet and the fallen angel mimicked their movement with his own. Soon, after Cas had tripped and stepped over the hunter's feet a few times, turning even redder, they moved in synch, fluid. Dancing without music but enjoying it nonetheless.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

One day, August was slowly nearing it's end, Cas brought Dean to a funfair in a town nearby. The hunter himself hadn't been to many fairs in his life, so he had agreed eventually, even though it hurt his pride a little. To his defence, Castiel was basically begging him to go. As the former angel wasn't capable of driving a car on his own, he told Dean the town's name so he could drive them, even though he didn't like the idea of Dean driving without hearing anything in his surroundings.   
They parked a little off so they didn't have to go through much traffic and even from the distance the both men could see illuminated fairground stalls, roller coasters, a Ferris wheel. Cas was rather excited about this as he hadn't been to a fair in his life but he didn't show it too much.  
'Do you want to take a ride on this thing?', Castiel asked, pointing at the Ferris wheel. Dean shrugged. 'It's pretty lame'.  
Dean didn't exactly like Ferris wheels, but somehow, Castiel managed to talk him into going. Behind them in the queue were a few young men, and Cas could here them talk about the both of them, calling them 'fags' which he was pretty sure was about the same as 'faggots'. Dean had once explained this word to him and having it used on them again made the fallen angel tense up noticeably. Dean saw, followed his stare and looked at the talking men. Apparently, the hunter could guess what they were talking about because he looked back at Cas, smiled and stroke his arm gently.  
'Just ignore them.'  
****  
After the Ferris wheel, they went for one roller coaster after another, played some of those stupid funfair games where they won a stash of senseless but cute prices and stuffed their faces with all food they could find. Every once in a while, the both of them would cross ways with the 'douche bags' from the Ferris wheel until at some point, when Cas heard them making fun of the sign language they were using, he was just so close to snap and beat them up right then and there.  
'Come on, Cas, don't listen to them! I don't either, so why would you?', Dean joked, trying to cheer his friend up a bit, get back his good mood. The former angel didn't seem to understand his joke though and looked at him confusedly.  
'Dean, you can't hear them! Of course you wouldn't listen to them talking.' The younger of the two men rolled his bright green eyes, laughing slightly. 'That was supposed to be a joke, silly.'  
'Well, it wasn't a very good one.'  
'Just ignore those jerks, let's have some fun! That's what we're here for, right?' Castiel wanted to argue, he couldn't just let them go on making fun of Dean, he couldn't have them insulting his- the hunter. Be he bit it back and ignored his urge to protect Dean from all that would try to harm him in whatever way because he didn't want to take the risk of them getting in a fight yet again. He didn't want to feel this horrible again. So Cas nodded at his companion, following in some direction to get them some cotton candy. Whatever that was supposed to be.   
****  
Maybe Castiel had eaten to many sweets at that funfair. Maybe he had eaten something he was allergic to or maybe, he was just getting sick. Whatever it was, Cas felt terrible the next morning. His stomach hurt and he felt like he was going to vomit any minute. It was a new experience for him, which only made it worse that it already was. Since he had become human, he only had a few headaches or such but he had never felt as bad as he did right now. When Cas had woken up to that horrible pain this morning, he had thought he was going to die. In the former week, he had been experiencing a weird feeling in his stomach sometimes, like a tingling, or as if someone had been putting insects into it, mostly it was when he was with Dean. Maybe that had something with his condition? Maybe Dean had some catching disease? Was it one of those awful diseases that killed people all the time? Lobster, or what was it called? Castiel was pretty sure it was Lobster...  
When Dean woke up a few hours after Cas had, he found the fallen angel curled up in an adorable way on the couch, still wearing this stupid trench coat of his.   
'Cas?', Dean managed, though his voice made a weird cracking sound and hit a note a little too high at the 'a'-sound. It was just so hard to talk without hearing oneself but Dean wanted to attract Castiel's attention, wondering what was up with him. Unprepared for the sudden noise, Cas jumped at Dean's voice before looking up at Dean, who started gesturing. 'Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. What's wrong?' He looked Cas concernedly waiting for his reply.   
'I think I'm ill. My stomach hurts and I feel like I'm going to vomit. Or die.' While he talked, Dean noticed how bad his best friend really looked for the first time today. He was all pale and had big, black bags under his eyes, showing how his sleep couldn't have been very relaxing. Cas' position was crouched when he sat up, his hands clutching around his belly.   
'Don't worry, you won't die', Dean said in a comforting tone, 'You probably only have an indigestion or so. You'll sure get better soon and until then, we can just sit on the couch all day and watch TV or whatever you'd like to do.'   
Castiel managed a small, grateful smile. 'I'd like that.'  
****  
When Dean was done making a soup for the both of them, he came back to Cas and set the both bowls on the coffee table in front of them. The former Angel had already turned on the TV and subtitles for Dean.   
'What do you want to watch?', he asked the hunter, who shook his head.   
'I don't care, you decide.' Cas flipped through the channels and stopped at some old horror movie neither of them had see before. Both of them ate their soup, which actually tasted quite good, and watched the film. Dean found it a little lame but he wouldn't complain. To be honest, watching a horror movie without any sound was kind of senseless so that when he finished off his soup, he laid back in the couch and settled for watching Castiel instead.  
The fallen angel had set his empty bowl next to Dean's on the coffee table and had pulled his knees up to his chin, resting it on them and hugging his legs. At this moment he looked so caught up in the film and it looked just so adorable, Dean couldn't help but smile. Every time there was a, probably really predictable, jump scare in the movie, Cas jumped and afterwards hugged his legs even tighter. It was kind of funny, Dean thought, after all the terrifying things the former angel had seen in his incredible long life, that he still got so scared by a silly old scary movie. Funny, ridiculous, yet damn adorable. Soon, Dean couldn't stand watching Castiel so afraid anymore so he pulled an arm around his shoulder, edging a little closer to him. “It's just some stupid movie”, he said quietly, hoping Cas understood him. It seemed that he did though, at least he nodded barely notable. Dean didn't remove his arms. After a while, they laid back a bit, Dean settling into the back rest of the couch while Castiel's head rested on his chest. And like that, they fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

It took about a week for Cas to recover from his malady. A whole week they spent on the couch, talking, eating, watching TV and sometimes cuddling like in that first night of Castiel being sick. Often Dean had to force Cas into eating so he wouldn't lose to much weight.  
When Cas had finally recovered completely, it was September and summer wouldn't last much longer. So that night, they went outside again to their field. They laid down on the dry ground and looked up into the black sky that was covered with a billion sparkling stars. According to the weather report, this would be the last warm, cloudless night of this summer.   
The sky seemed endless to the both men on the field somewhere in America. Once again, they realized just how small and insignificant they were to the big picture. It had been more than three months now since Dean's last hunt and he didn't even think about his lost hearing anymore much. Those past few months he had barely been thinking about anything before the explosion. Except Castiel. Actually, the fallen angel had been a major topic of his thoughts most of the time. The both of them had always had an extraordinary connection but they had been growing even closer and had gotten to know each other even better. As much as the hunter wanted to deny it, he had been developing feelings for the man with the beautiful blue eyes next to him, and they were far from platonic. He had been there for Dean even when he was acting like an absolute dick, had stuck to him no matter what and Dean had started to adore him so much, miss him when he was only two room apart, to always be so incredible happy around him. Cas might have lost his grace but to Dean, he was still an angel.   
****  
They had been laying out there in silence for four or five hours now, not moving or trying to start a conversation, enjoying the silence for once, the view and the other's presence. All this time it had been totally quiet, to both of them, no noises, no word spoken or thought, even, absolutely nothing. But suddenly Dean heard Cas shift next to him unexpectedly, which had him jump a little, unnoticed to Cas who was still looking up at the stars.   
Then, it hit Dean in the face. He had heard Cas moving. He had heard Cas moving! Or was it just his imagination?   
“Cas, can you say something?” Dean whispered, suddenly hearing his own voice again, odd and scratchy, but audible. The fallen angel turned and looked at him confusedly, cocking an eyebrow at Dean. The sight of Castiel's eyes gave him goosebumps.   
'Why?'  
“Just... do it. Please?”, Dean's voice still sounded so strange to him, as if it wasn't his own anymore.   
'What should I say?'  
“Anything.” Still not understanding, Cas opened his mouth while he wondered what the hunter was up to.   
“Dean... I don't quite understand...”, Castiel said and Dean finally heard his angels voice for the first time in forever. He heard. After more than three months, Dean finally could hear again, even though nobody had believed this would ever happen. Happiness flooded through his organism while Cas still stared at him confusedly and a wide grin enlightened the hunters face.   
“I can hear you! Cas, I can hear you!” When the former angel realized what Dean had just said, his eyes grew wide and his face lit up, smiling brighter and more beautiful than Dean had ever seen him do. Castiel pulled Dean into a tight hug, which was rather awkward as they were both still laying on the floor, but they didn't mind at all.   
“This is great! Dean, this is amazing, you can hear!” Still drunk in his joy, Dean pulled away from Cas' hug and hastily pressed his lips against Castiel's for a second and a half before realizing what the hell he was doing. And then, shocked by his own action and scared of the other man's reaction, Dean stood up and stormed off as fast as he could, to his room with a face redder and hotter than ever before, leaving behind Cas perplexed and a little sad. Dean closed the door and locked it, then let himself fall on his bed. Next to his bed, he found he hadn't touched since their fight had ended but now, he sat up and tossed it at the wall aggressively and caught it when it came back. He was so damn angry at himself. How could he let himself get so overwhelmed by his feelings? After all, Dean had been planning to just never tell Cas how he felt about him and wait until it would wear off someday. But now, he'd have to explain himself to Castiel. That innocent little angel he still was even though he technically was human, how would he even be able to understand love? He only knew love from movies and there it always was a woman and a man. Dean wasn't sure if Cas was even aware of the possibility of two men... He would probably freak out when he told him.  
****  
Soon enough, Castiel knocked at the door, asking Dean to open up. He wanted to talk, he said but Dean ignored him, acting as if he couldn't hear him and hoped Cas would leave sooner or later. But of course, he wouldn't do that. When Dean had kissed him he had taken him off guard but it wasn't like he didn't want to kiss the hunter. He only hadn't expected this at that moment, or at any other for that matter. By that time, Cas had already figured out what that feeling of insects in his stomach meant, he had looked it up on the internet because it was still there after his recovery. And it had made sense to him that he apparently was in love with Dean, but he had been convinced Dean loved women, and women only. Now, this kiss had given Castiel new hope and he wanted to at least know what it had meant to the hunter.   
So, since he wasn't opening up the door by himself, Cas found himself constrained to kick in the door.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When Castiel violently entered Dean's room, he found him throwing this stupid ball again. Throw, catch, throw catch, throw... “Dean?” The hunter still acted as if he couldn't hear him, maybe hoping Cas would just go and forget about everything that had happened in the past ten minutes.   
“Dean, I know you can hear me.” No reaction. But Cas wouldn't give up here, not today and when it was so important to him. He wanted to talk about this, he needed to. He had to know about the hunter's feelings for him and he had to let him know about his own. Only how was he supposed to do that when Dean seemingly ignored him? 

“Alright, Dean, if you don't want to talk, you don't have to. But I will”, Cas said, hoping Dean was listening, “When I first was told to raise you from perdition, I was honestly 'pissed' as you'd say. Saving a soul from hell is quite an effort but I had to obey, so I did. Then I saw you for the first time and I knew, you were special. I didn't quite know in what way but you were different then other humans, not only because you were chosen. And then, Sam and you became such great friends of mine, you even let me stay with you, taught me how to be human. Everything seemed a blur through those confusing emotions, you and Sam did your best to take care of me while I did my best to not be a burden. And somehow, I had the feeling you and I grew closer and closer by every day, I felt comfortable around you, trusted you two and still do. Then after the explosion, Sam and I were worried sick about you, you were unconscious for two days after all. 

Operation over operation and they still weren't able to fix your ears in the end. On one hand, we were glad you'd be okay but hearing was so important to you, how would you take it? So I offered to stay with you, keep an eye on you. And again, we grew even closer and I feeling those weird ways, I had no idea what it was. I thought, maybe it was some disease making me feel like that but why would a disease be dependent on your location? I was confused but I didn't want to bother you with it. I grew so protective over you when I heard those people making fun of you but during our fight, I would get so depressed cause I missed you so much. And then, last week when I was sick you acted so sweet, taking care of me, I didn't even want to get better anymore. At some point today I realized what those emotions meant, this feeling I always have when I'm around you. Okay, I admit, I had to look it up on the internet, but I realized! And I really planned on not ever telling you this, Dean, but under this circumstances... I love you, I really do. So... it would be kind of nice when you said something... anything.” Cas was getting uncomfortable, now that he had told Dean everything. At the beginning of Castiel's speech, Dean hadn't looked at him, trying not to get his hopes up by what he said. By the end, though, he stared at him rather incredulously. Which didn't exactly make it any easier for Cas.

“Dean? Aren't you going to say anyth-”, Cas began, but he was interrupted by his beloved mumble, “Oh, shut up already.” Then, Dean placed his lips on Cas' for a second time that night. They felt so very soft and warm against Cas' and when Dean sucked at his lower lip lightly, Castiel finally snapped out of it and kissed him back. The hunter wrapped his arms around his angel's waist tightly, as if he'd never let him go again and Cas let out a small moan when Dean bit his lowed lip, which he took advantage of to enter Castiel's mouth with his tongue. Somehow, Cas thought, Dean tasted like cherries. And dark chocolate.  
“Cas”, the hunter mumbled between a set of passionate kisses.  
“Yeah?”  
“I love you, too”, Dean said and moved away a only a centimetre or so, to look into Cas' wonderful blue eyes. Castiel smiled, happily, lovingly, and placed a small kiss on the bridge of Dean's nose. Then he grinned cheekily, “Oh, you better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okkk so I published that all at once because if you guys really read this and like it I know it sucks to wait for years for an update (because I'd totally forget lol).  
> Sooo I hope it didn't suck because srsly I didn't read this since I wrote it and I wrote it before watching supernatural lol


End file.
